Ice hockey finds new fans in Belfast, where the sport brings some in the divided city together

There was no bitterness.”In this corner of the United Kingdom, bitterly split for so long between predominantly Catholic nationalists and Protestant pro-British unionists, the nationalist party Sinn Féin — which supports unification with the Republic of Ireland — became the largest party in Northern Ireland’s Assembly last weekend for the first time since the partition that officially split Ireland in two in 1921.But while Sinn Féin’s success is significant, Irish reunification isn’t going to happen overnight, or even in the near future, thanks in part to Brexit, the province’s complex power-sharing rules, and the emergence of a growing number of people who identify as neither unionist nor nationalist.That is evident in the success of a party called Alliance, which made the biggest gains in the election with a neutral platform that avoids any sectarian identification. “It’s great to have something that is completely neutral,” said Giants fan Natasha Johnson, “and everyone can feel excited, regardless of your background or your socioeconomic status or your political views or your religious views, and come and get behind a sport that not very many people on the island even know.”The Giants captain, Dave Goodwin, is a 30-year-old American who played  at Penn State.Goodwin said  that while signing autographs at the team’s awards night, one gentleman told him “that before the Giants, there were a lot of Protestants that had never spoken to a Catholic until they came to a Giants game.